Maybe because there isn’t local news coverage like there used to be.
A bunch of regional newspapers are going digital only. I’m sure my mil is sad because she liked a physical paper and did the puzzles.
My local paper used to print out sample ballots to look through, at least that’s what I remember
Another Washingtonian here who loves the opportunity to research the myriad issues and candidates. I know that our paper ballots are saved, and they can be recounted.
For those of you in other areas, how are in-person votes recorded? Is it all software-based now? Or are there hard copy reports that document votes?
Since I started two threads asking the same question!
Now I feel old because I definitely don’t remember
I love hearing about people getting excited about and doing their constitutional right to vote. This is a very engaging and civic minded group and we should all be proud of that!
Nope—before we were mailed ballots, there was a huge newspaper printout on election but we weren’t mailed sample ballots. Being mailed sample ballots could have been helpful.
CA
Before Covid, we used to vote in person; now we drop the mailed ballots in the ballot box by City Hall early.
Printed sample ballots can be tricky in newspaper. Around us it gets long with all the various city variations.
DH took our kids to vote with him when they were teens (it was on the way to work) and we made a big deal the first time they could vote. S1 and I were once on the nightly news as I carried him as a baby into the voting booth.
A million years ago in NJ, we voted in person in a fire hall with machines that had actual levers to pull, and a curtain across the back.
I recall levers & curtained booths.
I don’t miss the levers. But the curtained booths bestowed a kind of dignity to the proceedings which is sorely missing now!
I love to vote in person in our small town in New England. Just feels cool. 
Pennsylvania
I always voted in person, but now that my husband needs assistance to vote, it’s easier to vote by mail. But I’m always afraid I will do something incorrectly because PA has so many rules such as inserting the ballot into the secrecy envelope before placing it in the mailer. Also, you have to write the date on the outside of the envelope, and one year I wrote my birthdate. I drop off both ballots at the county courthouse after my husband fills out a special form allowing me to do that. There is only one dedicated parking space to do so, so I go first thing in the morning before it gets busy. My H is not a morning person, and if I’d wait for him, I’d have to deal with a,lot more traffic.
Those rules! Imagine how much training the observers get just to be in the rooms where the votes get counted. Is a ballot not valid because the voter wrote the date British style vs. American style? Does a ballot get tossed because the privacy envelope was filled out correctly but not completely sealed?
My coworkers were the ones to fix all the machines with the levers on Election Day! They hated Election Day lol. I forget when they went away. I would guess in the 2000s after the whole hanging Chad mess.
After that, I seem to recall a few different methods. I want to say right before Covid, it was a touch screen system. However, they are now a fill in a bubble on paper, and then you put it in a scanner or something that sucks it up. I went in person for our primaries a few weeks ago. My sister’s doctor was running.
Absentee ballots were fill in the button on paper back when I was in college & law school, late 70s, early 80s. It worked ok and that’s how we still fill in the ballots to this day in HI.
And I remember having to find a notary while at college (which was a requirement back then for an absentee ballot-- you’d fill in the little bubbles while standing in front of the notary). Very jealous of the kids from states where you just filled in the ballot and mailed it in!
Except while overseas in the service, I have always voted in person.
Virginia
We have Early Voting that starts 45 days before Election Day. Now called Early Voting, it used to be called Absentee in Person. When I had to have a reason, I used to say I’d be traveling as was often the case.
We also have Absentee by Mail (and an option for permanent Absentee by Mail).
IN CA, I’ve voted by mail since the '90’s. My H traveled a LOT and I hauled two toddlers in to vote once. Never again. By mail is so. much. easier. Part of reason is that CA always has SO many propositions in addition to any candidates running for the various offices. This midterm, there are 14! That being said, in past few elections, I take my mail in ballot and drop at voting place, so I know it won’t get lost in mail. Generally received an email that my ballot has been received and counted a few days later.
Yes, I get a receipt that my ballot has been received & counted within 24/48 hours after putting it in the drop box for ballots. I only mailed it in when I was away at school.
Virginia
I almost always do early in person voting. Much easier to fit it in to my schedule.